Two great couples, we are friends with, got married this summer: First Martijn and Madelein tied the knot in a phenomenal feast near the canals of Maarsen/NL. Maybe you remember it from our own wedding: Boght's traditional wedding gift is a cheesy garden gnome... Time for something unexpected! For the M&M wedding we flew in a Chilean picaro statue. When lifted, this picaro reveals a surprise ;-) A big hit. Everyone burst out laughing!
Just one week later Kees and Nina said "I will" in a beautiful monastry in Leuven/Belgium. They are a Dutch-German couple, like us. We are really happy we could attend both weddings during this Europe trip. All the best to you four!

Some old, some new – our motto for this year's tour through the Netherlands. The old: Amsterdam. We had not been to Amsterdam in years, and just enjoyed doing standard tourist things: soak up the unique atmosphere at Leidseplein, stroll over the flower market, visit the busy Van-Gogh museum, sip coffee with friends at De Waag, or hop on a scenic sunset cruise. We were even treated to our own private concert! When our boat went through Prinsengracht, a floating Big Band just started playing "Aan De Amsterdamse Grachten", ...last rehearsals for the Grachtenfestival 2011.

The new: Den Haag, seat of the Dutch government.
We've been to the Scheveningen beach before, but I never saw the city center of The Hague. So Florian showed me the famous food stall, where prime minister Balkenende is said to buy his matjes filet after work. I don't particularly like canned herring, but the fresh fish at Balkenende's place was delicious! We continued in the footsteps of the Dutch government with a tour through the medieval Ridderzaal, known for the queen's annual speech from the throne. In a modern annex of the Ridderzaal sits the Dutch parliament. Fortunately we had two kids in the group, so our tour guide explained the Dutch political system extra slow and easy. The audience was all Dutch (except me), but you could see on their puzzled faces how relieved they were about all the children's questions. Nobody had a clue^^

Our flight leaves in just 3 days, but as always, there are last-minute changes! We will basically stay twice as long as originally planned, because of some work-related issues. Here's our new (and hopefully definite) itinerary: